Beware – Scams are returning

It’s been brought to our attention by several members that a series of scams is continuing in the glass industry. Scammers are faxing, emailing, and calling glass shops asking for custom orders. They then pay with stolen credit cards and have the glass shipped overseas  – a scam that is very similar to the fake shipping scams from a couple of years ago. 

The National Glass Association and Window & Door Dealers Alliance want to make sure you are informed about the possible dangers facing your business.   Visit the Glass Magazine Scam Alert page to see the latest postings from other business owners and to view examples of the scams.  You can also find more information in the following articles:

• Scammers strike glass companies in fraud spree
• Stand up to scammers
• Glass shops fight fraud

If you have a scam to report, contact the National Glass Association at membership@glass.org.

The NGA Serves the Auto Glass Industry

The NGA continuously serves the glass and window and door industries.  GlassBuild America in September, including the Glazing Executives Forum and the Window & Door Dealers Forum, serves the glazing and window and door portion of the industry.  But those are not the only segments of the industry that the NGA supports.

We continue to serve the Auto Glass industry in many ways, including:

• A top-notch certification program, under the leadership of committee chairman Jeff Olive of GlassPro.
• The industry’s most comprehensive training program on MyGlassClass.com.
• The widely read For Technicians Only e-bulletin, covering the latest installation tips and techniques. 
• Our support of a unified auto glass conference slated for the Fall of 2011, in conjunction with the Independent Glass Association, Key Communications, and other like-minded organizations.
• Continuous representation with AGRSS.
• Expansion of our menu of value-added services.  Look for an exciting new offering very soon.

The NGA always has been – and always will be – a friend, ally and supporter of the auto glass dealer. We fully intend to continue our important role in the industry.

Thanks for standing with us. Let’s keep working together to ensure a brighter future.

Going the Extra Mile

There are many opportunities that are brought before me in regards to customer service and sales. Because I work with companies all across North America developing their sales culture, I am keenly aware of potential opportunities when they are missed.

My most recent experience in regards to salesmanship is a more personal level, but something that I am sure that we have all felt in some way or another. My wife and I were looking for a replacement vehicle for her, and we wanted to make the decision the right one.

We called many different places in search for the right vehicle. We went to the physical locations to drive them and ask questions. Never did we once feel that the sales person was taking the “consultative” approach in determining our needs, desires, wants, and reasons for the purchase. They were being order takers – not much different from the person behind the fast food restaurant drive through order speaker.

We arrived home after a frustrating experience, and I said to my wife that I wanted someone to more or less take the expert approach, find out what we needed and wanted, and make a strong recommendation! I did not want to have to dig for all of the info. I wanted to be taken care of, and the pressure relived.

We MUST remember that as we work with our customers, they want to be taken care of; they do not always know what they want. That is why they are talking to you! Take the time to find out what the true needs are, and make a powerful recommendation. Your customers with thank you for it – they will even come back again!

ContactPoint NGA WDDA

Give Tech Schools Some Love

There’s a great article in a recent version of The Economist highlighting vocational training; specifically, the short shrift such training is usually given. While the number of students attending four year universities has grown exponentially since 1980, the number of students at vocational schools has dropped, which is a shame. Now, there’s a generation of students that now feel ill-served by their university experience, wondering where the jobs are. There are a lot of people wondering if college is really all it’s cracked up to be. It’s just a simple fact that not every student is college material.

Meanwhile, the market is shifting. As the article notes, the Council of Economic Advisors “projects faster-growing demand for those with a two-year technical-college degree or specific training, than for those with a full university degree.” The jobs projected to be in demand across the next decade are in industries such as nursing, pharmacology, and yes, trades, glass included. Yet, our educational system is woefully inadequate for students who wish to go down that path. There are some promising programs at the state level, but few nationally-coordinated ones. Instead, it’s up to the trades themselves to develop and support these.

Here at the NGA, we’re on top on this. As you know, most technical schools in the US do not have curriculum covering glass installation. Traditionally, the industry has trained its own. We’re looking into some partnerships that will help this. Soon, students at trade schools across the country will be able to take high-level, glass specific training on MyGlassClass.com for credit toward a certificate at their local vocational school. They’ll also be able to couple that with an internship in the field. It’s a small step, but an important one. As you know, glass can be an extremely fulfilling career. We hope the generation coming up gets the chance to experience that, too. Hopefully, programs like this (and others) can help. We’ll send out more details soon.

Traditionally, Americans want to push their students into four-year universities. As the graduate of one myself, I can’t deny that college can be an enriching experience. But there’s a whole segment of students for whom that’s not the best chance to succeed. Hopefully, a meaningful shift toward vocational education will give those students a fair chance, too.

Matt Rumbaugh
Sr. Manager of Education, Training, and Certification
National Glass Association, Window & Door Dealers Alliance

Policy Updates - What do you think should be addressed?

In the past couple of weeks, both the NGA and WDDA (in addition to other industry groups) have submitted comments to the EPA. A brief update:

• The NGA submitted comments to the EPA on behalf of its commercial glazing members. NGA members responded to the NGA’s letter writing campaign in force, and the NGA submitted an industry response, along with letters from member companies, to EPA headquarters. The campaign, and comments to the EPA, was in response to the EPA's April 23 release that included a proposed action that would, if adopted, directly impact the commercial glazing industry.
  
  The NGA recommended either the elimination of the proposal or that the EPA work with the industry to ensure that the rules impacting the glazing industry have the appropriate standards. The NGA and its commercial glazing members asked the EPA to allow the glazing industry some much-needed breathing room to ensure that the increased regulatory burden does not negatively impact an industry already struggling with the downfall in commercial construction.
  
  
• A delegation from the WDDA visited EPA headquarters to deliver the organization's official response to the EPA's request for comments on proposed lead clearance testing rules under its Renovation, Repair and Paint program. The WDDA group also brought nearly 200 letters gathered from dealers around the country discussing the impact of agency's lead paint rules on business to date.
  
  WDDA comments included data from the recent WDDA survey. Respondent's feedback was overwhelmingly adverse about the new rules, ranging from substantial increases in both hard and soft costs on each job (over and above EPA’s own estimate of a $250 incremental increase), to anecdotal accounts of lost business and other serious repercussions from the rule. The WDDA urged EPA officials to read the letters from window and door dealers, expressing concern about the broad application and lack of flexibility of the RRP rules, and the "unintended consequences that are costing jobs, harming our industry and, by extension, hurting the nation’s economic recovery."

These are just 2 issues the NGA and WDDA are watching and actively campaigning against. Do you have a legislative issue you think should be addressed? If so post here or email tipsntricks@glass.org.